Push-to-talk (PTT) refers to a half-duplex mode of communication during which a single user has mutually exclusive use of a wireless communication channel for the transmission of voice information to another user or group of users. From an operational viewpoint, originating party User A presses a PTT switch on a mobile device, possibly awaits a “ready” tone, speaks into a microphone of the mobile device, and then releases the PTT switch. At this point, a former called party User B can press a PTT switch, possibly await a “ready” tone, speak into the microphone, and release the PTT switch. This procedure is repeated with different parties becoming the originating user and transmitting to one or more called parties in the group call until the conversation has completed.
With PTT and other PTT-related (PTX) services being available over a cellular communication network, PTX over Cellular (PoC) services are starting to address the merging of PTX and other telephony services—such as the merging of PTT with voicemail services. If a called party User B forwards a PoC call to a voicemail server, the outgoing message of the voicemail may grab the “floor” and thus have mutually exclusive use of the communication channel for the duration of the outgoing message. Meanwhile, originating party User A and other group call participants such as User C may have to endure the outgoing message of User B's voicemail when User A would rather have avoided User B's voicemail system entirely.
Thus, there is an opportunity to improve a user's experience in situations where a PoC call is forwarded to a voicemail server. The various aspects, features and advantages of the disclosure will become more fully apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon careful consideration of the following Drawings and accompanying Detailed Description.